ZERAH COLBURN.

DURING several weeks, we have repeatedly received astonishing and almost incredible accounts of the mathematical powers of a child living in Vermont. Within the last month, he has been exhibited in this place, and we have had frequent and ample opportunities for examining him; and have besides, collected from the father, and from respectable gentlemen in that part of the country where this prodigy was born, the following account of his birth and education.

Zerah Colburn was born at Cabot in the county of Caledonia, and state of Vermont, on the first day of September, 1804 In the early part of his infancy, and until he was a year old, his parents considered him very much inferiour to the rest of their children, and sometimes fearfully anticipated all the trouble and sorrow attendant on the maintenance of an idiot. By degrees he seemed to improve, and they began to conceive better hopes; but, he was more than two years old before he was supposed to possess that degree of intelligence which usually falls to the share of our species. After this, his progress became more apparent; and although all who saw him declared he was very eccentrick in his manners and amusements, yet all acknowledged that he was shrewd and intelligent. No one, however, had yet discovered in him any inclination to the combinations of arithmetick, and no one remembers that he ever made any inquiries about numbers, or their use. As he always lived in a frontier town of Vermont, where education meets with little encouragement, and as his father's resources were few and trifling, he had received no instruction, and was in fact ignorant of the first rudiments of reading. It was, therefore, with unqualified astonishment, that his father overheard him multiplying dif ferent sums merely for his own amusement; and on investigating the extent of his powers, found he could multiply any two numbers under one hundred. This happened about the beginning of last August. Immediately on this discovery, the father sent him to a woman's school, such as is usually kept in our back settlements during the summer season. There he remained until the latter part of September, and was taught to read a little; but is still completely ignorant of figures and our method of using them. The want of arti- '

ficial symbols does not, however, seem to embarrass him in the least. Instead of them, he employs their names, and without any other asisstance, performs mentally all the common operations in the four fundamental rules of arithmetick. He can add a column of figures four in height and three in width. He can subtract five figures and divide four. He can multiply any number under one thousand by any number under one hundred, or a series of three questions each of whose factors do not exceed one hundred. He has also learnt by inquiry several of the different kinds of measure, and now reduces miles to rods and feet, and years to days, hours, &c. His most remarkable operation is that of discovering the several multiples of a given number; and this he does with such astonishing rapidity, that the hearer cannot note them down so fast as he utters them :-Ex. gr. when asked what numbers multiplied together will produce 1224, he replied instantly, 2X612, 4 X 306, 8 X 153, 3 X 408, 6X204, 12 × 102, 24 × 51, 9 X 136, 18 × 68, 36 × 34, and 17×72. In this, and similar operations, he probably discovers the two first factors by division, and afterwards multiplies and divides these factors to procure the next set and so on until the series is exhausted, when he recurs to the original number, and making a new division, proceeds as before. In multiplication he finds the multiples of one factor and multiplies them successively into the other. Thus, in multiplying 32 by 156, instead of taking the common mode, he says, 13 × 32=416×12=4992; because 12×13=156. But, if the hundreds proposed will not suffer this process, he first multiplies the hundreds, and then the tens, and discovers the aggregate by addition. His facility in multiplication arises in a great measure from the extent of his table, which, instead of comprising only one hundred and forty-four combinations, probably comprises ten thousand, as he evidently answers all questions whose factors are less than one hundred, from recollection, and not from computation. His memory is prodigious, and appears capable of almost indefinite cultivation. In his general disposition, he is uncommonly docile and affectionate, although he discovers considerable pride of opinion, and is chagrined when detected in an errour. He is remarkably inquisitive, and is never satisfied with a superficial examination of any new object or fact. Musick excites him powerfully; and next to this, pictures. His person is strong and well proportioned

except his head, which is much larger than usual. This circumstance has raised suspicions, that he had been subject to the rickets; a disorder which has been supposed sometimes to produce a prematurity of talents; but the father declares, that the child has always been healthy, and particularly denies that he ever discovered any appearances of this disease.

Considering all these circumstances, the present appears to be an unparalleled instance of the early developement of mind. It is preposterous to compare him with the admirable Critton or the blind Dydimus; because their faculties were drawn forth by the usual artifices of education; while the youth of this child, the ignorance of his parents, and their relative situation in society, preclude the possibility of his having attained his present powers by any use of the ordinary means of improvement. It is certain, therefore, that he has made himself what he now is, the most astonishing instance of premature skill in arithmetical combinations that the world

ever saw.

Boston, December 15, 1810.

CATALOGUE,

OF NEW PUBLICATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.

FOR DECEMBER, 1810.

Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura. Mart.

NEW WORKS.

Sacred Musick consisting of Anthems for particular occasions, and Psalm and Hymn tunes. With accompaniments for the Organ and PianoForte. Composed by George C. Sweeny and William Cooper. Boston J. T. Buckingham.

*Aphorisms on men, manners, principles and things. By Joseph Bartlett, Counsellor at Law. Portsmouth, for the author, 12mo.

*The Clergyman's Daughter; a tragedy, in five acts. By William C. White. As performed at the Boston Theatre. Boston, J. Belcher.

*The Signs of the Times. A Sermon, preached before the society for propagating the gospel among the Indians and others in North America, at their anniversary, November 1, 1810. Charlestown, S. T. Armstrong. *No. 3 and 4 of the American Law Journal and Miscellaneous Repertory. By John E. Hall, Esq. of Baltimore.

A Treatise on the Law of War, translated from the Original Latin of Cornelius Van Bynkershoek; being the first book of his Quaetiones Juris Publici. With Notes, by Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, Counsellor at Law in the Supreme Court of the United States.-Ne portio omnia possit.... OVID. Boston, D. Mallory & Co.

*Such books, pamphlets, etc. as are designated by this mark (*) may be found at the Boston Athenaeum.

The American Register, or General Repository of history, politics and science. Vol. 6, part 2, for 1810. Philadelphia, C. & A. Conrad and Co.

A copy of the record of the trial of Ensign John W. Brown, (who was honourably acquitted) before Division Court Martial, begun and holden at Charlestown, on the 14th day of August, 1810. Boston, E. Larkin. The Rudiments of Chemistry; illustrated by experiments, and eight copper-plate engravings of chemical apparatus. By Samuel Parkes, author of a chemical catechism. Philadelphia; Bradford & Inskeep.

The American Reader; or Elegant Selections of pieces in prose and poetry. Designed for the improvement of youth; the art of reading and speaking with propriety and beauty, and for the cultivation of a correct moral taste. Particularly for the use of schools. By Asa Lyman, A. M. Boston; D. Mallory & Co.

* Documents accompanying the message of the president of the United States to the two houses of congress, at the opening of the third session of the eleventh congress, December 5th, 1810. Printed by order of the senate of the United States. Washington City; Roger C. Weightman. 154 pages 8vo.

A new method of ascertaining the latitude in the northern hemisphere by a single altitude of the polar star, at any time; with tables calculated for that purpose. By C. Mangen, teacher of navigation. Boston; William T. Clap.

* The Charitable Blessed; a sermon, preached in the first church in New-Haven, August 8, 1810. By Timothy Dwight, D. D. President of Yale College. Sidney's press.

Paragraphs on banks. Price 37 and a half cents. Philadelphia; C. and A. Conrad and Co.

Considerations on the Bank. Price 20 cents.

approaching dissolution of the United States' Philadelphia.

NEW EDITIONS.

The secret history of the cabinet of Bonaparte; including his private life, character, domestic administration, and his conduct to foreign powers; together with secret anecdotes of the different courts of Europe, and of the French revolution, with two appendices, consisting of state papers, and of biographical sketches of the persons composing the court of St Cloud. By Lewis Goldsmith, Notary Public; author of "The Crimes of the Cabinets," "An Exposition of the conduct of France towards America," &c. Edited and illustrated with notes, by a gentleman of New-York; who, during a long residence in France and other parts of Europe, (the theatres of the revolution and intrigue) has had all the opportunities necessary to be acquainted with the facts. "The truth and nothing but the truth."-New-York; E. Sargent and M. and W. Ward. 2 vols. 18 mo.

*Collectanea Greca Minora. For the use of academies and schools; a knowledge of which is requisite for admission into the University at Cambridge, and in most of the colleges in the U. States. Cambridge; Wm. Hilliard.

The Saracen, or Matilda and Malek Adhel, a Crusade Romance, from the French of Madame Cotin; with an historical introduction, by Michaud, the French Editor. Four volumes in two, price 2 dols. in boards. New York; I. Riley.

5th volume of M'Knight on the Epistles. Boston; T. B. Wait & Co. The Teacher's Assistant in English composition; or, easy rules for writing themes and composing exercises on subjects proper for the improvement of youth of both sexes at school. To which are added, Hints for correcting and improving juvenile composition. By John Walker, author of the Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, &c. Boston; J. T. Buckingham.